Jess Haberman has been musing about where to base herself as a publisher. I find this fascinating because I live in a large Australian state that is very decentralized.
Quick geography lesson: Australia is about the same size in land area as the continental United States, but with only six states and two territories. This makes most of our states extremely large, but Queensland (my state) is the second largest. In fact, at 1,852,642 km2 Queensland takes up one quarter of the total area of Australia. It is further from Brisbane to Cairns, cities both in Queensland, than it is from Brisbane to Melbourne, three states away.
Despite being the third most populous state, we are also decentralised. In nearly all other states and territories a high percentage of the population (65% or more) is clustered in and around the capital cities, such as Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. In Queensland this figure is only 45%.
Quick publishing industry lesson: Similar to London and New York, Australia’s publishing industry is concentrated in one major city, Sydney. At least, that’s how it is for the major trade publishers, the big six: HarperCollins, Hachette Australia, Pan Macmillan, Random House, Allen and Unwin and Penguin. By extension, that’s also where most of the literary agents are.
But here’s something interesting… some of the most innovative and energetic publishing in Australia is taking place outside of Sydney, and outside of traditional industry networks. At the mid-size level of the industry, a swag of publishers are really performing above and beyond what might be expected for their size, particularly UQP (Brisbane), Scribe and Text (Melbourne) and Fremantle Press (Western Australia). Melbourne is also the locus of a vibrant, exploding small press scene, with small independents flourishing in every other state, such as Small Change Press, Ticonderoga, Wakefield Press, eatbooks and Pulp Fiction Press.
There are any number of conclusions you could draw from this spread of the publishing map. For publishers, I would suggest that it doesn’t matter if you are located close to the hub of industry activity or not. There are now few if any barriers to publishing damn fine books wherever you are. Jess Haberman offers good arguments for not being based in the city at all, adopting a friendlier small town lifestyle which is likely more supportive of small businesses. But more than this, I wonder if the evidence in Australia demonstrates you’re actually better off not being situated in the swirling vortex of the publishing industry at all. If the publishers listed above are anything to go by, perhaps the distance lends some kind of perspective or inspiration for excellence and new innovation.
For writers, I think isolation is a tough burden and geographical isolation in Australia can be acute, especially in Queensland. Writers don’t need to be physically close to agents and publishers to sell a book, nor do they need to be physically close to other writers to participate in vibrant social networks. They just need a reliable internet connection (that’s a whole other story)
But I’ve seen the lightbulbs go on over authors’ heads when they attend a seminar or panel with publishers and agents and hear directly from industry professionals how the business works. I’ve seen the spark of new connections and relationships. I wonder if the mushrooming of small publishers in regional towns across Australia could, in turn, further support the development of writers in those communities.
What are your thoughts? I’m keen to hear from publishers and regional readers on this one.
[Note: Here's some bonus material on the Australian tourism debacle that inspired the title of this post]
Kate Eltham is a writer and creative industries professional based in Brisbane, Australia. She is Chief Executive Officer of 
kate.eltham {at} gmail.com
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
As a regional dweller, I do miss the physical proximity of like-minded folks.
Online contact is all very well – and I would not have left the city if I couldn’t have it – but there is nothing to match just hanging out with a bunch of like-minded writers over a glass or three of vino or a good latte.
It’s the difference between a drought-driven four-minute shower and a good long soak in a chin-deep bath. Mmmmm…
hi kate,
i agree that small press publishing is alive and well in queensland as is the coverage of organisations such as the queensland writers centre. having been an export from brisbane into the regional central coast now for decades i’ve enjoyed the independence of living in a non city place – but it is hard to perform work, associate with like-minded, and sell books here.
i also note that small change press has a chap book award for south east queenslanders only (read not regional queenslanders for that or brisbane and near brisbane only) and this decision seems to be based, i think, on the potential outcomes for selling the work at readings and performances based in and around brisbane, which i guess pre supposes that regional poets won’t be able to travel or have the audiences that brisbane poets have. sure, you could look at the publishing scene that way, a little jaded and full of assumptions, but that’s what a small press can do, their choice.
one small press with its first publication ‘holding job’s hand’ a collection of my poetry and with an original cover by clyde mcgill in limited edition is light-trap press http://www.light-trap.net/ run by angela gardner and kerry kilner. and let’s not forget paul’s papertiger.
Hi Kate,
So glad I could help to inspire this post–it’s excellent. And being part of the conversation/vortex is definitely something to ponder. Does being literally farther away from where it starts mean you’re less a part of it? With the rise of social networking via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc., it seems like it’s becoming less and less important where you are physically to be involved in the newest innovations. This topic keeps expanding!
Jess
Hi Jess, you’re absolutely right, digital platforms and social media have shrunk the world! Companies, including my own, can utilise this technology to connect with their customers and stakeholders more often and for less money.
But I’m interested in the idea about the quality of the relationship, or perhaps I mean that an online relationship is different, not necessarily better or worse. There’s no technical barrier to publishing from anywhere in the world – digital media makes it possible to write, edit, proof, design and print remotely from all your service providers.
But if you’re a literary agent, for example, and you want to have lunch with a publisher and work on that business relationship, is it better to be in the same town? Can you ahve the same quality of relationship if it’s all conducted online?
Here am I wondering where there is no discussion of the fact that it is possible to independantly publish your work for free and market and distrubute it on the internet for free?
Kate, I am positive that you are right. Unless you meet people face-to-face, you really don’t have a strong relationship. Communicating with people over the Internet is like you’re seeing them through the wrong end of a telescope and shouting down a long pipe. There is no detail and little subtlety in the exchange. When you meet someone you’ve only known online, suddenly they seem alive and in full colour.
Way back when, I was a founder member of the UK’s Teleworker’s Association. At the time (late eighties, early nineties) everyone thought telecommuting would shrink the world, make travel irrelevant, and save the planet. Even with good-quality, high bandwidth video-conferencing, group working software, telepresence and the rest, it never caught on. There really is nothing like the real thing.
Which is not to knock the Internet and all that it *has* brought us, but it is a very poor substitute for face-to-face interaction. I live a long way from anything (my nearest bookshop is 150 km away – so thank Berners-Lee for Amazon! – and a meeting in Brisbane is a 3-hr-each-way commute) so I lean heavily on the Web and email. But I have to find ways (and the budget) to get to Brisbane meetings at least a few times a year or I would really start to feel isolated.
@Paul, have a look at my latest blog posting.
I think you’re right Janette. I thought about this again this morning when I remembered all the seminars and professional development events I’ve had to miss because they were on in Sydney. Sometimes I can fly down, but often I can’t. I understand why the Australia Council, CAL, ASA or the APA would put on events in Sydney – that’s where most of the publishers are – but it really does mean that quite a few of us (a growing number) miss out. In Australia I don’t think it’s enough to say delivering services to the majority is good enough. In Queensland we’re expected to service our members right across the state, and we do. I really want these organisations to consider how they can be more effective for their consituents/stakeholders in other states and regions.